The Chicago Cubs traded their former ace Wednesday for Marlins right-hander Chris Volstad, pending physicals and approval by Major League Baseball, a person familiar moncler jackets with the negotiations said. The person confirmed the deal to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the teams hadn't announced a deal.
Zambrano wore out his welcome in Chicago because of repeated meltdowns and tantrums. The most recent came when he cleaned out his locker and talked about retiring after giving up five homers and being ejected during a loss to Atlanta on Aug. 12. He was suspended without pay and then it was decided he would sit out the rest of the season.
In Miami he'll be joining another former Chicagoan, Ozzie Guillen, who expressed interest in acquiring Zambrano when he was hired as the Marlins' manager in October after stepping down as the White Sox's skipper. Zambrano joins a franchise on the upswing after a winter spending spree resulted in the signings of All-Stars Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell.
Zambrano finished last year 9-7 with a 4.82 ERA. The Cubs expected more when he signed a $91.5 million deal over five seasons through 2012, including a $17,875,000 million salary last season and $18 million in 2012. As part of the trade, they'll likely pay much of his salary.
Volstad went 5-13 last year with an ERA of 4.89, and moncler men jackets his career record is 32-39. He has given up 69 homers over the past three seasons, which could mean trouble for him at Wrigley Field.
Zambrano is 125-81 with a 3.60 ERA after breaking in with the Cubs in 2001, and he threw a no-hitter against the Astros. But he had difficulty controlling his temper.
In 2007, he got into a fight with teammate Michael Barrett, first in the dugout and then in the locker room. Barrett ended up with a bruise under his eye and a cut lip.
In 2009, he went on tirade against an umpire, throwing a baseball into the outfield, pretending to eject the umpire and slamming his glove against the dugout fence, a tantrum that led to a suspension.
In 2010, Zambrano was placed on the restricted list for six weeks and sent to anger management after a verbal altercation with then-teammate Derrek Lee.
After pocketing the endorsement of former rival John McCain, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is seeking to lock down support in New Hampshire while preparing to woo voters in the conservative bellwether of South Carolina.Moncler women boots cheap sale, 2011 moncler winter boots outlet.
Romney's latest top rival, Rick Santorum, is facing renewed scrutiny of his record after a surprise showing in Iowa's caucuses.
The newly recast Republican field finds Romney reaching for a decisive victory in New Hampshire to solidify his status as the putative front-runner. But his rivals are working to block that effort.
One is former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who skipped cheap moncler the Iowa caucuses and tells voters he can "smell success" in New Hampshire.
Another, Newt Gingrich, is bluntly dismissing Romney's efforts to cast himself as the most electable challenger to President Barack Obama.
2012年1月4日星期三
Fed officials have also been considering ways to make more explicit
A decision to reveal forecasts for the federal funds rate starting this month represents the biggest step toward openness since Bernanke took office in 2006 moncler jackets promising greater transparency, according to Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and a former Fed board economist. The central bank didn’t even start announcing changes in interest rates until 1994.
“This is a complete 180-degree shift from the old mysterious-institution approach,” said Ethan Harris, co-head of global economic research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. “There’s been a steady move toward opening up the central bank to outside scrutiny and trying to explain to the public the logic of what they’re doing.”
The first forecasts will be announced after the Jan. 24-25 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, according to minutes of the Dec. 13 gathering released yesterday. That may boost economic growth by delaying expectations for an increase in the benchmark rate, which has been kept close to zero since December 2008, according to Feroli. At the same time, publishing a range of forecasts risks sowing confusion by showing disagreement among policy makers, Harris said.
“It’s a bit awkward -- you’re going to reveal to the public how much uncertainty the Fed itself has about where it’s going,” Harris said.
Additional Accommodation
The minutes said “a number of members indicated that 60% off moncler jackets current and prospective economic conditions could well warrant additional policy accommodation.” Those members also decided that “any additional actions would be more effective if accompanied by enhanced communication” about the FOMC’s longer- run economic goals and policy framework.
The decision to publish forecasts “is a part of trying to manage expectations,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist in Chicago at Mesirow Financial Inc., which managed $59 billion as of Sept. 30. “The theory is that if households and companies are convinced that the Fed is not going to tighten too quickly, there is reason to invest now.”
Central bankers in August decided to replace their statement that interest rates would stay near zero for an “extended period” with a date of mid-2013. Bernanke said at his Nov. 2 press conference that the statement “says at least mid-2013” and that “clearly it could well be some point beyond that.”
Stocks maintained gains yesterday after the release of the minutes, buoyed by a report showing that manufacturing in the U.S. expanded at the fastest pace in six months in December. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) rose 1.6 percent to 1,277.06 at the close of trading in New York. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note increased to 1.95 percent from 1.88 percent on Dec. 30.
Danger of Confusion Seen
Some Fed officials voiced concerns at last month’s meeting that publishing the forecasts would “confuse the public,” as there is an “appreciable risk that the public could mistakenly interpret participants’ projections of the target federal funds rate as signaling the Committee’s intention to follow a specific policy path rather than as indicating members’ conditional projections,” according to the minutes.
While “most participants viewed these concerns as manageable,” some Fed officials “did not see providing policy projections as a useful step at this time,” the minutes said.
Releasing the forecasts will also demystify officials’ abilities to predict the economy’s path, according to Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies & Co. in New York.
Risks of Forecasting
“You run the risk of every other forecaster, and that is of making an idiot out of yourself,” McCarthy said.
The increased disclosure may make monetary policy “less flexible” if markets perceive the Fed as committed to a particular path of action, said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York.
“The Fed is no better at forecasting than the best market economists, none of whom are right all the time,” Low said in an e-mailed response to questions. He said he worries that “it will be harder for the FOMC to change direction quickly if it means there is a risk of embarrassment or diminished credibility when they do so.”
Bernanke has made an unprecedented push for Fed openness moncler as chairman. He has aired his views on monetary policy and the financial crisis in television interviews and taken his message on the road in town hall meetings with ordinary citizens in places such as El Paso, Texas.
Press Conferences
In 2011, the 58-year-old former Princeton University professor began holding press conferences four times a year. The FOMC now publishes forecasts for economic growth, inflation and unemployment four times a year, up from twice during the tenure of Bernanke’s predecessor, Alan Greenspan.
Fed officials have also been considering ways to make more explicit the conditions under which the benchmark federal funds rate would remain near zero. Fed Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans has advocated a promise to keep rates low until either unemployment falls below 7 percent or the medium-term inflation outlook rises above 3 percent, while Charles Plosser of Philadelphia has pushed for an inflation target of 2 percent.
Bernanke said Nov. 2 that the central bank may take new steps to boost growth, including changing the way it communicates its policy goals to the public.
“They have developed a potentially powerful easing tool,” and publishing rate forecasts “is a great move,” said Antulio Bomfim, senior managing director at Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in Washington.
“You can’t be against greater transparency,” said Bomfim, cheap moncler a former senior economist at the Fed. “It’s like motherhood and apple pie.”
“This is a complete 180-degree shift from the old mysterious-institution approach,” said Ethan Harris, co-head of global economic research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. “There’s been a steady move toward opening up the central bank to outside scrutiny and trying to explain to the public the logic of what they’re doing.”
The first forecasts will be announced after the Jan. 24-25 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, according to minutes of the Dec. 13 gathering released yesterday. That may boost economic growth by delaying expectations for an increase in the benchmark rate, which has been kept close to zero since December 2008, according to Feroli. At the same time, publishing a range of forecasts risks sowing confusion by showing disagreement among policy makers, Harris said.
“It’s a bit awkward -- you’re going to reveal to the public how much uncertainty the Fed itself has about where it’s going,” Harris said.
Additional Accommodation
The minutes said “a number of members indicated that 60% off moncler jackets current and prospective economic conditions could well warrant additional policy accommodation.” Those members also decided that “any additional actions would be more effective if accompanied by enhanced communication” about the FOMC’s longer- run economic goals and policy framework.
The decision to publish forecasts “is a part of trying to manage expectations,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist in Chicago at Mesirow Financial Inc., which managed $59 billion as of Sept. 30. “The theory is that if households and companies are convinced that the Fed is not going to tighten too quickly, there is reason to invest now.”
Central bankers in August decided to replace their statement that interest rates would stay near zero for an “extended period” with a date of mid-2013. Bernanke said at his Nov. 2 press conference that the statement “says at least mid-2013” and that “clearly it could well be some point beyond that.”
Stocks maintained gains yesterday after the release of the minutes, buoyed by a report showing that manufacturing in the U.S. expanded at the fastest pace in six months in December. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) rose 1.6 percent to 1,277.06 at the close of trading in New York. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note increased to 1.95 percent from 1.88 percent on Dec. 30.
Danger of Confusion Seen
Some Fed officials voiced concerns at last month’s meeting that publishing the forecasts would “confuse the public,” as there is an “appreciable risk that the public could mistakenly interpret participants’ projections of the target federal funds rate as signaling the Committee’s intention to follow a specific policy path rather than as indicating members’ conditional projections,” according to the minutes.
While “most participants viewed these concerns as manageable,” some Fed officials “did not see providing policy projections as a useful step at this time,” the minutes said.
Releasing the forecasts will also demystify officials’ abilities to predict the economy’s path, according to Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies & Co. in New York.
Risks of Forecasting
“You run the risk of every other forecaster, and that is of making an idiot out of yourself,” McCarthy said.
The increased disclosure may make monetary policy “less flexible” if markets perceive the Fed as committed to a particular path of action, said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York.
“The Fed is no better at forecasting than the best market economists, none of whom are right all the time,” Low said in an e-mailed response to questions. He said he worries that “it will be harder for the FOMC to change direction quickly if it means there is a risk of embarrassment or diminished credibility when they do so.”
Bernanke has made an unprecedented push for Fed openness moncler as chairman. He has aired his views on monetary policy and the financial crisis in television interviews and taken his message on the road in town hall meetings with ordinary citizens in places such as El Paso, Texas.
Press Conferences
In 2011, the 58-year-old former Princeton University professor began holding press conferences four times a year. The FOMC now publishes forecasts for economic growth, inflation and unemployment four times a year, up from twice during the tenure of Bernanke’s predecessor, Alan Greenspan.
Fed officials have also been considering ways to make more explicit the conditions under which the benchmark federal funds rate would remain near zero. Fed Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans has advocated a promise to keep rates low until either unemployment falls below 7 percent or the medium-term inflation outlook rises above 3 percent, while Charles Plosser of Philadelphia has pushed for an inflation target of 2 percent.
Bernanke said Nov. 2 that the central bank may take new steps to boost growth, including changing the way it communicates its policy goals to the public.
“They have developed a potentially powerful easing tool,” and publishing rate forecasts “is a great move,” said Antulio Bomfim, senior managing director at Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in Washington.
“You can’t be against greater transparency,” said Bomfim, cheap moncler a former senior economist at the Fed. “It’s like motherhood and apple pie.”
2011年12月30日星期五
Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated
In 1759, Arthur Guinness founded his famous brewery at St. James's Gate in Dublin.
In 1775, during the Revolutionary War, the cheap moncler British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec; Montgomery was killed.
In 1879, Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light in Menlo Park, N.J.
In 1909, the Manhattan Bridge, spanning the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, was officially opened to vehicular traffic.
In 1946, President Harry S. Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.
In 1961, the Green Bay Packers shut out the New York Giants 37-0 to win the National Football League Championship.
In 1969, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was shot to death with his wife and daughter in their Clarksville, Pa., home by hitmen acting at the orders of UMWA president Tony Boyle.
In 1985, singer Rick Nelson, 45, and six other people were killed when fire broke out aboard a DC-3 that was taking the group to a New Year's Eve performance in Dallas.
In 1986, 97 people were killed when fire broke out in the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Three hotel workers later pleaded guilty in connection with the blaze.)
In 1991, representatives of the government of El Salvador cheap jackets for men and rebels reached agreement at the United Nations on a peace accord to end 12 years of civil war.
Ten years ago: New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani spent his final day in office praising police, firefighters, and other city employees in the wake of 9/11, and said he had no regrets about returning to private life. Notre Dame tapped Tyrone Willingham to be its football coach, replacing George O'Leary, who'd resigned because of misstatements about his academic and athletic achievements on his resume; Willingham became the first black head coach in any sport for the Irish. Actress Eileen Heckart died in Norwalk, Conn., at age 82.
Five years ago: The death toll for Americans killed in the Iraq war reached 3,000. Hundreds of Iraqis flocked to the village of Ouja (OO'-juh) where Saddam Hussein was born to see the deposed leader buried in a religious compound 24 hours after his execution. Ordinary Americans paid their respects to former President Gerald R. Ford, walking slowly by his flag-covered casket in the U.S. Capitol.
One year ago: Tornadoes fueled by unusually warm air pummeled the South and Midwest, killing a total of eight people in Arkansas and Missouri. The body of federal defense consultant John Wheeler III, 66, was found in a Wilmington, Del., landfill; his death, ruled a homicide, Moncler Women Vest - Cheap Moncler Jackets remains under investigation.
In 1775, during the Revolutionary War, the cheap moncler British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec; Montgomery was killed.
In 1879, Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light in Menlo Park, N.J.
In 1909, the Manhattan Bridge, spanning the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, was officially opened to vehicular traffic.
In 1946, President Harry S. Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.
In 1961, the Green Bay Packers shut out the New York Giants 37-0 to win the National Football League Championship.
In 1969, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was shot to death with his wife and daughter in their Clarksville, Pa., home by hitmen acting at the orders of UMWA president Tony Boyle.
In 1985, singer Rick Nelson, 45, and six other people were killed when fire broke out aboard a DC-3 that was taking the group to a New Year's Eve performance in Dallas.
In 1986, 97 people were killed when fire broke out in the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Three hotel workers later pleaded guilty in connection with the blaze.)
In 1991, representatives of the government of El Salvador cheap jackets for men and rebels reached agreement at the United Nations on a peace accord to end 12 years of civil war.
Ten years ago: New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani spent his final day in office praising police, firefighters, and other city employees in the wake of 9/11, and said he had no regrets about returning to private life. Notre Dame tapped Tyrone Willingham to be its football coach, replacing George O'Leary, who'd resigned because of misstatements about his academic and athletic achievements on his resume; Willingham became the first black head coach in any sport for the Irish. Actress Eileen Heckart died in Norwalk, Conn., at age 82.
Five years ago: The death toll for Americans killed in the Iraq war reached 3,000. Hundreds of Iraqis flocked to the village of Ouja (OO'-juh) where Saddam Hussein was born to see the deposed leader buried in a religious compound 24 hours after his execution. Ordinary Americans paid their respects to former President Gerald R. Ford, walking slowly by his flag-covered casket in the U.S. Capitol.
One year ago: Tornadoes fueled by unusually warm air pummeled the South and Midwest, killing a total of eight people in Arkansas and Missouri. The body of federal defense consultant John Wheeler III, 66, was found in a Wilmington, Del., landfill; his death, ruled a homicide, Moncler Women Vest - Cheap Moncler Jackets remains under investigation.
2011年12月29日星期四
Moncler can be a expert manufactory
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2011年12月27日星期二
Some U.S. manufacturers from China
The United States also chided Japan for stepping into the currency market to stem the yen's rise, and urged South Korea to use such interventions cheap jackets for women sparingly.
Some U.S. politicians have argued that China has gained an unfair competitive edge in global markets by keeping the yuan artificially low to boost exports, and pressure has mounted in Congress for President Barack Obama to punish China.
But the administration prefers to tread softly and use diplomacy. The U.S. Treasury, in a semi-annual report, as usual said that statutes covering a designation of currency manipulator "have not been met with respect to China."
It repeated its standard line that appreciation in the yuan has been too slow, calling it "insufficient."
"Treasury will closely monitor the pace of appreciation and press for policy changes that yield greater exchange rate flexibility, a level playing field, and a sustained shift to domestic demand-led growth," it said in the report to Congress on international economic and exchange rate policies.
The value of the yuan, which Beijing manages closely, has risen 4 percent against the dollar this year and 7.7 percent since China dropped a firm peg against the greenback in June 2010. The Peterson Institute for International Economics recently estimated the yuan was undervalued by 24 percent against the dollar, down from 28 percent earlier in the year. It attributed the change to both Beijing's policy of gradual currency appreciation and higher Chinese inflation.
At the heart of the friction between the two countries is a U.S. trade deficit with China that swelled in 2010 to a record $273.1 billion from about $226.9 billion in 2009. The cumulative Jan-Oct deficit with China is on track to top that this year, running at around $245.5 billion.
The U.S. Senate this year for the first time passed a bill that would require the administration to slap penalties on Chinese imports if it fails to adopt market-based exchange rates. While the measure has made no progress in the lower chamber and is unlikely to become law, it shows the mounting U.S. frustration with its vital trade partner.
President Obama at the November APEC meetings, in his toughest words yet, told President Hu Jintao that China must play by global trade rules and act like "a grown-up."
Beijing has warned the United States not to "politicize" the currency issue, and some economists have pointed out that nations such as Japan and Switzerland have intervened in currency markets without drawing Washington's ire.
TARGETING TOKYO
The report did point the finger at Japan this time, criticizing Tokyo for its solo yen-selling interventions in August and October that followed a joint Group of 7 action in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake.
"The unilateral Japanese interventions were undertaken when exchange market conditions appeared to be operating in an orderly manner and volatility in the yen-dollar exchange rate was lower than, for example, the euro-dollar market," the report said.
"In contrast to the post-earthquake joint G7 intervention in March, the United States did not support these interventions," the Treasury said, adding that Tokyo cheap moncler should pursue reforms to revive its domestic economy rather than try to influence the exchange rate.
A senior Japanese government official said the report did not change Tokyo's position that its currency policy was in line with G7 agreements.
"This report does not make it more difficult for Japan to intervene," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic. "We are committed to doing whatever is necessary."
Japanese exporters have complained that the ultra-strong yen puts them at a competitive disadvantage. The yen was trading at just under 78 to the U.S. dollar on Wednesday morning, about 3 percent weaker than it was on October 31, when Tokyo aggressively intervened to cap the rise.
The report also noted that South Korean authorities "should limit their FX interventions to exceptional circumstances of disorderly market conditions and adopt a greater degree of exchange rate flexibility."
MORE OF THE SAME
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said the law on the FX report, which requires the administration to determine whether U.S. trade partners are deliberately undervaluing their currencies, is a poor tool to push Beijing on the yuan.
Instead, the United States prefers to argue for change at regular closed-door meetings with Chinese officials. It also uses international economic forums, such as the Group of 20 leading nations and the International Monetary Fund, to ramp up public pressure on Beijing to move more quickly to a more-flexible currency.
China is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, with about $1.1 trillion, a position that gives it leverage in international economic negotiations. Foreign exchange traders had not expected a change of U.S. tactics.
"It's not very surprising. It's sort of sliding it in under the radar. They're (Treasury) really not in a position to make any major moves at this point," said Sean Incremona, an economist at 4Cast in New York.
The Treasury Department has not labeled a country a currency manipulator since July 1994, when it cited China. A designation would require the United States to step up negotiations with Beijing on the yuan's value.
The yuan slipped on Tuesday as strong dollar demand from corporations offset a record high mid-point fixed by the People's Bank of China. The central bank set an all-time high dollar/yuan mid-point in an apparent move to let the yuan rise a little more at the end of 2011 so as to make the yuan's full-year nominal appreciation look bigger, traders said.
Some U.S. manufacturers, which have been hit hardest by competition from China and other emerging economies, would still prefer the U.S. government to take a harder line.
"China's currency is still enormously undervalued," said Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an industry lobby for hard-hit textile,Moncler Handbags,moncler handbags calfskin,moncler women Handbags on sale steel and labor groups.
Some U.S. politicians have argued that China has gained an unfair competitive edge in global markets by keeping the yuan artificially low to boost exports, and pressure has mounted in Congress for President Barack Obama to punish China.
But the administration prefers to tread softly and use diplomacy. The U.S. Treasury, in a semi-annual report, as usual said that statutes covering a designation of currency manipulator "have not been met with respect to China."
It repeated its standard line that appreciation in the yuan has been too slow, calling it "insufficient."
"Treasury will closely monitor the pace of appreciation and press for policy changes that yield greater exchange rate flexibility, a level playing field, and a sustained shift to domestic demand-led growth," it said in the report to Congress on international economic and exchange rate policies.
The value of the yuan, which Beijing manages closely, has risen 4 percent against the dollar this year and 7.7 percent since China dropped a firm peg against the greenback in June 2010. The Peterson Institute for International Economics recently estimated the yuan was undervalued by 24 percent against the dollar, down from 28 percent earlier in the year. It attributed the change to both Beijing's policy of gradual currency appreciation and higher Chinese inflation.
At the heart of the friction between the two countries is a U.S. trade deficit with China that swelled in 2010 to a record $273.1 billion from about $226.9 billion in 2009. The cumulative Jan-Oct deficit with China is on track to top that this year, running at around $245.5 billion.
The U.S. Senate this year for the first time passed a bill that would require the administration to slap penalties on Chinese imports if it fails to adopt market-based exchange rates. While the measure has made no progress in the lower chamber and is unlikely to become law, it shows the mounting U.S. frustration with its vital trade partner.
President Obama at the November APEC meetings, in his toughest words yet, told President Hu Jintao that China must play by global trade rules and act like "a grown-up."
Beijing has warned the United States not to "politicize" the currency issue, and some economists have pointed out that nations such as Japan and Switzerland have intervened in currency markets without drawing Washington's ire.
TARGETING TOKYO
The report did point the finger at Japan this time, criticizing Tokyo for its solo yen-selling interventions in August and October that followed a joint Group of 7 action in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake.
"The unilateral Japanese interventions were undertaken when exchange market conditions appeared to be operating in an orderly manner and volatility in the yen-dollar exchange rate was lower than, for example, the euro-dollar market," the report said.
"In contrast to the post-earthquake joint G7 intervention in March, the United States did not support these interventions," the Treasury said, adding that Tokyo cheap moncler should pursue reforms to revive its domestic economy rather than try to influence the exchange rate.
A senior Japanese government official said the report did not change Tokyo's position that its currency policy was in line with G7 agreements.
"This report does not make it more difficult for Japan to intervene," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic. "We are committed to doing whatever is necessary."
Japanese exporters have complained that the ultra-strong yen puts them at a competitive disadvantage. The yen was trading at just under 78 to the U.S. dollar on Wednesday morning, about 3 percent weaker than it was on October 31, when Tokyo aggressively intervened to cap the rise.
The report also noted that South Korean authorities "should limit their FX interventions to exceptional circumstances of disorderly market conditions and adopt a greater degree of exchange rate flexibility."
MORE OF THE SAME
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said the law on the FX report, which requires the administration to determine whether U.S. trade partners are deliberately undervaluing their currencies, is a poor tool to push Beijing on the yuan.
Instead, the United States prefers to argue for change at regular closed-door meetings with Chinese officials. It also uses international economic forums, such as the Group of 20 leading nations and the International Monetary Fund, to ramp up public pressure on Beijing to move more quickly to a more-flexible currency.
China is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, with about $1.1 trillion, a position that gives it leverage in international economic negotiations. Foreign exchange traders had not expected a change of U.S. tactics.
"It's not very surprising. It's sort of sliding it in under the radar. They're (Treasury) really not in a position to make any major moves at this point," said Sean Incremona, an economist at 4Cast in New York.
The Treasury Department has not labeled a country a currency manipulator since July 1994, when it cited China. A designation would require the United States to step up negotiations with Beijing on the yuan's value.
The yuan slipped on Tuesday as strong dollar demand from corporations offset a record high mid-point fixed by the People's Bank of China. The central bank set an all-time high dollar/yuan mid-point in an apparent move to let the yuan rise a little more at the end of 2011 so as to make the yuan's full-year nominal appreciation look bigger, traders said.
Some U.S. manufacturers, which have been hit hardest by competition from China and other emerging economies, would still prefer the U.S. government to take a harder line.
"China's currency is still enormously undervalued," said Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an industry lobby for hard-hit textile,Moncler Handbags,moncler handbags calfskin,moncler women Handbags on sale steel and labor groups.
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